Eilish McColgan Prioritizes Sport, Puts Wedding Plans on Hold
Table of Contents
Commonwealth games champion Eilish McColgan is postponing wedding preparations as she focuses on a demanding year of athletic competition. Teh 10,000m gold medalist, engaged to fellow athlete Michael Rimmer since May, revealed that initial plans for a 2026 wedding are currently “non-existent.â€
McColgan and Rimmer, who have been a couple for over a decade, shared photos of their engagement on Instagram while in Japan, with Mount Fuji serving as a stunning backdrop. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Saturday Show, McColgan explained the challenges of balancing wedding planning with a professional athletic career. “We were very gung-ho at the start,†she said, “Getting engaged is exciting, but life has just taken over and it’s hard when you’re a professional athlete.â€
The 35-year-old is now seeking a wedding planner to help navigate her busy schedule, which frequently enough requires her to “live out of a suitcase.†While she envisions a wedding in scotland, surrounded by loved ones, she’s persistent to maintain some control over the process. “Every couple of days she’s pestering me asking if I’ve looked at dresses or done anything, and I’ve not,†McColgan said of her mother, Liz McColgan, a former world 10,000m champion eager to assist. “If I let my mum plan my wedding,she’d have it arranged by this weekend and we’d be married in a barn somewhere.â€
A Record-Breaking Start to the Year
McColgan kicked off 2024 with a new women’s 10km record in valencia, shaving 12 seconds off her previous personal best. She attributes her success to a unique training regimen over the festive period, which included four days spent retracing her childhood running routes alongside Rimmer. “It’s really special being home,†McColgan stated, “and I try hard to come back for Christmas every year so I can have an easier week of training and catch up with my family.†This year,however,she maintained a rigorous training schedule even during the holidays,completing challenging sessions along the Dundee waterfront and in her father’s living room.
Commonwealth Games and Marathon Ambitions
With the commonwealth Games looming in approximately six months, McColgan’s training remains intense. “If the commonwealth Games were anywhere else in the world, I wouldn’t be running at them this year,†she admitted, emphasizing the importance of a home Games in Glasgow.
McColgan has enjoyed a decorated career, including silver and bronze medals at the European level across various distances. However, she is perhaps best known for her 10,000m gold and 5,000m silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She has recently shifted her focus to road racing, describing this phase as “the last chapter†of her career.
Her debut competitive marathon in London last April resulted in a Scottish record time of 2:24:25, surpassing her mother’s previous best of 2:26:52 set in 1997. McColgan has now surpassed her mother’s personal bests, many of which were once british records. “The marathon is somthing that I feel I have a lot of untapped potential in, which excites me,†she explained. “It’s very different to the track so it’s totally new to me, but London was an unbelievable experience, and I can now call myself a marathoner.â€
Facing Online Abuse and Looking Ahead
Despite her athletic achievements, mccolgan has faced negativity online. During marathon preparations, she received body-shaming comments, with some falsely suggesting she had anorexia. She typically responds to such criticism with emotional detachment, but was deeply affected by racist comments directed at her and rimmer following their engagement declaration. “the abuse was absolutely disgusting,†she said. “normally I’m numb to it but it’s the first time I felt upset while reading what people were saying about Michael and our partnership. It made me realize other people’s emotions are involved and it’s not nice for my family to read.â€
Looking forward, McColgan has her sights set on breaking Paula Radcliffe’s 2003 British marathon record of 2:15:25. “It’s time to really start trying to attack times now,†she declared. “paula’s time seems insane to me. There’s a lot of grown men across the UK that would be very happy to run that time so for a woman to do it, it’s pretty remarkable. But never say never. I want to dream big.â€
Listen to the full interview on The Saturday Show from 11:00 GMT on BBC Sounds.
